


The Lion and The Raven

by xCloudy_1412



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Alternate Universe — Hogwarts, F/F, Friends to Rivals, Humor, Kaito just wants to belong, Light Angst, M/M, Magic, Mischief, Rivals to Lovers, Shinichi is a trouble magnet, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-24 13:20:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16175894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xCloudy_1412/pseuds/xCloudy_1412
Summary: There was more to the world than technology and going through the motions, there were magic and apparitions, monsters and fairies, spells and incantations, potions and poisons.All of which Shinichi experienced in a certain school called Hogwarts.(Shinichi and the DC/MK gang through the years in Hogwarts)





	1. Prelude to Disaster

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first ever multi-chaptered fic~! Brought to you, dear readers by 2AM fanart viewing sprees and spontaneous typing. 
> 
> And I'll say it now, this is slow burn and there'll be twists and turns throughout the plot but I swear the endgame is KaiShin/ShinKai 
> 
> I don't have that many warnings for this fic other than the usual misspellings, grammatical errors, occasional sexual innuendoes/jokes, etc. but if you're alright with all of that, read on~!

"Shin-chan, wake up! Yuusaku's taking you to Diagon Alley today!!" 

The sound of shrill screaming and an annoying alarm clock jolted one Kudo Shinichi awake, abruptly cutting off his elaborate plans of a space adventure with his childhood friend, Mouri Ran. The 11-year old boy wasn't quite sure if he should be annoyed or happy at his mother's call.

"'Mm up!" The boy whined out, dragging his body off of his plush bed and padding towards the bathroom to freshen up. 

"Today's the day, today's the day~! My baby Shin-chan's finally going to Hogwarts!" Kudo Yukiko sang out with a squeal, swaying left and right in a dreamy fashion, "Oh, I can't wait until you learn how to ride a broomstick! We'll have so much fun and Yuusaku could teach you how to play Quidditch and kyaah~!!" The woman cried out as she threw Shinichi's clothes into the bathroom, the said articles floated and neatly folded themselves on a nearby shelf while Shinichi let out a soft sigh.

"Mum, we're just going to Diagon Alley. I'm not going to Hogwarts yet, that's for next week," The young boy came out of the bathroom in a fresh set of clothes consisting of a button up white shirt, cute cargo pants and a simple fur coat. "Plus I know the basics of flying a broomstick, it can't be that hard." Shinichi let out a small huff as his mother collected him in her arms and gave him an overly excited hug.

"I just can't wait for my darling baby to discover the world of magic, Hogwarts is a special place for me and your dad, it's where we met after all~." Yukiko let out a fond sigh as her honey dew eyes glazed over with nostalgia.

"Yeah, yeah. I know, you met in Charms class where you repaired Dad's reading glasses for accidentally shooting a fireball at his face, I know. You've only told me this story a couple thousand times." Shinichi climbed down the stairways where Yuusaku waited by a fireplace, dressed in a beige peacoat and black slacks, reading glasses slipping slightly from the bridge of his nose. 

"Ready to buy your magic arsenal?" Yuusaku asked with a grin that Shinichi knew very well, "Yeah!" The kid exclaimed, as the taller man took the child's hand in his. "Remember the Floo network?" Yuusaku asked while Shinichi nodded his head eagerly.

"Of course, grab some powder, throw it on the ground and scream out your desired location. I read this in a book," Shinichi grabbed some of the green dust in his tiny hand and made his way towards the fireplace where Yuusaku followed in suit. "By all means, go first." Yuusaku gestured for the child to go first which he did, Shinichi threw the dust on the ground and two words later he stood at the entrance of Diagon Alley with a slight headache and a Mouri Ran waiting for him by the pet shop.

"Shinichi!" Ran exclaimed with a toothy smile, bounding over to him in all her sunny smiles, spiked hair glory. "Mama bought me a cat, doesn't he look cute?" The small girl held up a black cat with the grayest eyes Shinichi's ever seen, "Mama said that pets were sort of mandatory since they keep you company so we bought a cat, I named him Ao~." 

Shinichi was rather sure that the cat was indeed black but upon further inspection and a little bit more sunlight he concluded that the cat was actually midnight blue. "I don't like cats," The boy huffed, pushing the cat (who, in fact, hissed and tried clawing him), Ran held a crestfallen look as she cradled the baby cat, "Meanie! I picked him because he looks just like you!" Ran harrumphed and Shinichi had to give the girl a disbelieving look because his eyes weren't _that_ gray and he was pretty sure he didn't see any male genitals on Ao.

"It's a girl, Ran." The said girl held her kitten up and let out a tiny gasp, "Oh my gosh, it's a girl!!" Shinichi shook his head and went to rejoin his father who patiently waited by the pet store, "At least Ao's a unisex name, saves you from the embarrassment of not being able to tell genders!" The tiny kid let out a string of laughter as Ran puffed her cheeks and delivered a swift chop onto the back of Shinichi's head, earning herself a pained cry from the other.

"Now, now kids." Yuusaku cooed out nervously, "Let's not fight okay? Ran-kun, your mother told me you haven't gotten yourself a wand nor a cauldron yet, correct?"

Ran nodded, Ao held close to her chest. The kitten stared directly at Shinichi as if to silently judge the kid and Shinichi returned the action with his own pointed glare. 

"Why don't we all buy the required things together?" Yuusaku offered with a small smile, herding the two into the pet shop with a cheery Ran and a silently bubbling with excitement Shinichi.

The shop was dark, brightened only by floating oil lamps that were all dried up but were magically lit, multiple cages littered the floors and walls, some vacant and some raging with an unidentified animal, the shop owner was a young lady with long brown hair and a forehead that was bigger and brighter than Ran's future in theoretical physics. 

"Azusa-kun," Yuusaku greeted with a polite nod towards the drowsy lady who had cats draped on her like a weird fur coat, "Mr. Kudo! I see you've brought Shinichi-kun!" Azusa squealed out, coming closer to Shinichi and the boy's first instinct was to take a step back because the shop owner looked ready to squish the color out of his cheeks. 

"He's getting his pet today, he'll leave for Hogwarts next week," Informed Yuusaku as he sifted through a catalogue of listed pets, Azusa bent down to Shinichi's height and as the boy expected, squished his cheeks until they were slightly swollen, "Aren't you such a cutie~," A few cats on Azusa's shoulders hopped off and landed on the smaller boy's shoulders, some scratching, some rubbing themselves against Shinichi.

"Pick whichever pet you like, Shinichi." Yuusaku intervened much to Shinichi's delight, "I recommend an owl but they have to stay in the towers and barns unlike domestic pets like cats or toads," Shinichi scanned the place for any worthy pets. None caught his eyes, toads were too slimy and not fashionable whatsoever, cats were needy and entitled, owls weren't exactly his thing as he never really cared much for communication then he saw it.

"I want that one," Shinichi pointed a finger towards a single midnight black Raven perched on an Oak branch with long claws, beady red eyes piercing right through him, "Shinichi, a flock of crows is called a murder you know." Ran whispered out with no delicacy whatsoever.

"I know and what does that have in relation to my pet?" The boy hissed and made an effort to climb a few cages to reach for the rather prideful bird who had its chest puffed out and beak pointed high up. "Besides, they aren't that strict with pets and I want that one," Shinichi huffed and reached out for the Raven who stubbornly hopped away.

"That one's a tough cookie, no one wants him because he's so mischievous and prideful," Azusa let out a sigh as she dug through her pocket for some bird feed, "Never listens to anyone and hates being stuffed inside a cage," The lady attempted to lure the creature with bird feed but the Raven simply flew even further away.

"I want him," Shinichi repeated with an even more determined tone, climbing up two more cages as the Raven perched on one of the oil lamps, "You'll get burned if you stay there," He mumbled out as he outstretched his hands towards the Raven who looked admittedly distraught, having landed on a very hot metal object. 

"Whoa, look out!" 

The Raven attempted to fly away but snagged a couple of feathers on the lamp's fancy design, causing it to stumble and fall. Naturally, Shinichi followed after it resulting in a painful crash against metal bars, "Shinichi!" 

Shinichi let out a small grunt as he slid down the metal cages, "You better get in that cage after what I just did for you," The boy mumbled to the wide eyed bird, paralyzed in his arms. 

"You're stupid sometimes," Ran critically pointed out as the Raven obediently let himself be taken by Azusa while Yuusaku dug through his pocket to retrieve his 10-inch wand, "If Ao was about to break her bones, would you save her?" Shinichi threw back as Yuusaku patched up a few bruises. 

"One troublesome Raven~! That would be 20 galleons," Azusa held up the pure silver birdcage, housing _Shinichi's_ raven who was perched silently on a simple metal bar. 

"You really did inherit your mother's bravery," Yuusaku let out a soft sigh (of fondness, as Shinichi read it as because his father was a stupidly hard person to read), "I just wanted to prove a point to this bird," Shinichi countered, wrapping his arms around the large cage in an attempt to carry it.

"Hey, hey! What are you gonna name it?" Ran squealed out as she held Ao up for the raven to see and almost immediately the cat started hissing and the bird spread its wings out wide in an attempt to look menacing.

"Guess they don't like each other," Shinichi pulled the cage back before Ao could try to swallow his pet like Tweety Bird, "So what name?" The boy stopped for a moment to ponder, he couldn't name it Ravenclaw like his favorite house so maybe —

"You aren't allowed to call it Sherlock, or John or Holmes and definitely not Watson," 

Damn. 

Shinichi jutted his lower lip out in a childish manner, staring at his (now recovered and back to being all prideful) bird, "He kinda reminds me of nighttime," Ran observed with a shudder, "Like he could just disappear if you let him into the night sky, scary." The small girl let out a whimper at the thought.

"That's it!" Shinichi exclaimed, scaring both Ran and Yuusaku, "I'll name him Kai!" 

"Why so?" Yuusaku blinked and looked back down at Kai, "Because Kai is short for Kaito, like the Japanese word _Kaitou_ which is Phantom Thief!" And mostly because he liked the word play only his family and native Japanese speakers could understand, it made him feel a tad bit smarter than the rest. 

"That sounds like a nice name," Yuusaku agreed with a nod of his head, "Why don't we go ahead and get your cauldrons?" Shinichi padded along, gaze stuck on his new pet, his _lifetime_ partner, Kai and the boy allowed himself a stupid grin that had Ran shrinking back and whispering exorcism lines.

Cauldron buying was uneventful and disappointing because Shinichi wanted the golden cauldron for fab points and overall better specs but Yuusaku bought him a _pewter_ cauldron, the lowest of the low, the beginners' cauldron, the slowest mixer and overall the worst to start with.

"It's better to start from the worst and learn from there, so that if ever you hit rock bottom or struggle with things you'll know how to work with it," Shinichi couldn't argue with his father's logic because it was like the supreme logic right next to Sherlock's and Shinichi didn't want to say it out loud but it made sense and the pewter cauldron wasn't so bad if Yuusaku phrased it like that. 

That was, until Ran bought a copper cauldron and Shinichi had to pout and thrash around childishly because the stupid half-muggle was buying top-notch equipment when the heir to a prestige family of magicians was getting the lowest quality? Oh hell no.

"I want the copper," Shinichi pointed at the rather expensive looking cauldron, "It'll be the perfect cauldron to brew potions in," Yuusaku looked at him with slight exasperation as if he just hadn't explained why he chose the pewter cauldron, "Still a no and we have to hurry, Ollivander's closes early today. You'd want to get your wands today right?"

That shut the boy up because no matter how shiny or efficient the golden cauldron was, it would be useless if he couldn't even use magic. "To Ollivander's," Shinichi decided, diligently grabbing his disgusting pewter cauldron and placing it in a mini cart right beside Kai (who looked like the epitome of boredom) and wheeling it towards the wand maker's shop.

"Professor Agasa!!" Ran exclaimed, skipping towards the counter, "We came to get our wands~!" 

A familiar old man emerged from the back room, chubby and stout with a white mustache and round rimmed glasses. "Professor Agasa," Shinichi greeted, climbing up the counter to get a better view of all the wands. "It's finally that time for you two?" Agasa Hiroshi said with a wisp of nostalgia, "I'm so proud of you two, I hope you enjoy Hogwarts." 

"We came to get their wands," Yuusaku informed with a nod of his head as Agasa sifted through wooden boxes, selecting a batch of wands and presenting it to the duo, "Remember, the wand chooses you," Before Shinichi laid different intricately designed, well crafted wands, ranging from short 8 inches to long 13 inch wands, all different in characteristics.

"Have a go and if it's the one for you, you'll know." Ran was the first to move, closing her eyes and running a hand through the pile of wands as if to let destiny choose for her, she picked a random wand and pointed at Yuusaku ; _"Tarantallegra!"_

For a moment there was silence, Ran looked down at the wand with mixed emotions until it finally let out a burst of bright orange colors and Yuusaku was on the floor trying to break dance. 

"Lovely wand, Ran-kun!" Agasa exclaimed in delight, collecting the wand to inspect it, "Unicorn Tail Hair, Aspen Wood, 10 inches with a slightly supple flexibility! It's perfect for you," Ran let out a squeal as she hugged the wand close to her. Agasa on the other hand remedied Yuusaku's dancing problem much to the latter's gratitude, Shinichi took sick pleasure in seeing his father do uncharacteristic things. 

"I got my wand before Shinichi!!" She declared triumphantly, holding up the white wooded wand latticed with blue colors and a single sapphire imbedded at the center of the handle, "I got mine first!" She repeated for emphasis as Shinichi picked up his pace, picking a random wand and exclaiming _"Lumos!"_. If he trusted his gut, surely he'll find the perfect wand for him.

Or so he thought, but after 30 minutes of blind picking and fruitless spell screaming Shinichi was beginning to think that the wands didn't like him. 

"Don't give up, Shinichi," Ran teased with a entertained smirk, a top a stack of books, obviously showcasing her own wand by how she continuously used it like a baton. 

"Let's try this one," Agasa offered him (quite reluctantly) a wand, different from the rest and Shinichi could tell. It was elegant-looking, perfect length, perfect weight and it didn't look so dull. The top of the handle was wrapped with silver, stylized as a feather wrapped around it, trailing downwards towards the butt of the handle in an engraved feather trail. 

_"Lumos."_ Shinichi held a tired tone, having said the same line a couple hundred times already but he wished, he wished with all his tiny cold heart that this one was his destined wand because something told him it was special. 

A moment passed, and just as Shinichi was about to surrender the wand to Agasa the tip lit up like a fiery Phoenix, lighting up the entire shop with blinding golden light, momentarily blinding everyone in the room. "W-Wow," Ran exclaimed, having fallen from her spot as the light finally dissipated. "That was really bright."

"Phoenix Feather, Hornbeam Wood, Hard Flexibility, 11 1/2 inches." Agasa wheezed out, rubbing his eyes and blinking rapidly, "Saying that it's perfect for you is an understatement," Shinichi shot the old man a beam as Yuusaku gave his own version of a smile, handing Agasa a handful of Galleons.

"Thank you for your help, Professor." Yuusaku gave the old man a pat on the shoulder, guiding Shinichi to the side before he could hit anything, "The wands are perfect. I'm sure it'll be their partners for decades," 

Shinichi gave Ran a small cocky smirk, as he raced outside to show Kai his very own wand, "I have a wand now," He stated to the bird who looked slightly more interested than before, Kai cawed out and fitted his beam through the gaps of the cage's bar in an attempt to touch the wand, " _My_ wand." Shinichi retracted his wand, opting to instead stroke the raven's beak only to receive a light peck and a slightly painful nip to his fingers. "Ow!" The wizard-to-be cradled his hand and shot his pet a dirty glare, "You need discipline," Kai simply puffed his chest out and strutted around his tiny cage. 

"Shinichi! We're gonna buy our books now!!" Ran shouted from halfway down the street, Ao now trailing behind her as the little girl held her wand with both hands. 

"Yeah!" Shinichi wheeled his cart over to the bookstore where Yuusaku was in the process of spiriting textbook, school attires and necessary equipment back to their manor, paying with Galleons and exchanging pleasantries with the shop owner, Kobayashi was it? 

"Thank you, Kobayashi-san. Have a good day," Yuusaku poofed the last of Shinichi's text books back home and turned to look at his child, "That's everything, you're all set for Hogwarts," Ran squealed out at the mention of the school while Shinichi gave his father a large grin.

"I'm gonna be the best witch out there! I'll learn how to recite spells and I'll know how to fight with my hands so that I'm invincible!" Ran held her arms up to the arm in a sort of widespread position as she determinedly executed a high kick just to prove her flimsy point. 

"Idiot," Shinichi deadpanned with an unamused tone, "Just because you can throw a few punches doesn't mean you're the very best," 

"Now, now children," Yuusaku crooned out before Ran could attempt to decapitate Shinichi's head with a kick, "It's getting late, why don't we all go home, I'm sure Eri-san's worried about you, Ran-kun." Ran nodded and followed Yuusaku towards the exit of the alley, entering The Leaky Cauldron and shuffling towards a nearby fireplace.

"See you at Hogwarts, Shinichi~." Ran waved her wand in the air as she cradled Ao in her other arm, "Take me back to Mama's house!" With a puff of green smoke, she was gone. 

"Time for us to return too," Yuusaku handed Shinichi some powder, juggling a cauldron and cage in one hand, "Gimme Kai," Shinichi held onto the cage as Kai cawed and flapped his wings nervously, "Relax, it's just the Floo Network it won't kill you," The boy stepped into the fireplace, dropped his dust and recited his house's address.

Back at home, Yukiko waited for them with a hearty meal and self-playing instruments. 

"One week left till you leave for Hogwarts!" Yukiko cheered as she enchanted a knife to carve a turkey.

And Shinichi's mental countdown till the day he arrives at Hogwarts started.

◆△◆

King's Cross was a bustling station filled with mixed crowds. Adults, children, elderly people and the occasional pets. There was never a dull moment as the screams of the train conductors, the train whistles, the rambunctious chatters of every passenger and today on September 1st at exactly 10:55 AM, Kudo Shinichi stood in front of Platform 9 3/4 with a metal cart in front of him and a sobbing Yukiko by his left.

"My Shin-chan's gonna be all grown up!" The woman wailed, directing unwanted attention towards the family, "You better send me at least one letter a week! No ifs or buts, I want a weekly report of what's happening and by what's happening, I mean _everything_." 

"Calm down dear," Yuusaku appeased the lady with gentle rubs to her shoulders, "Shinichi will be fine, I'm sure he can handle himself," Shinichi shot his old man a confident smirk. "And Ran-kun will be there so he'll have at least one friend," Something in Yuusaku's voice made Shinichi (and the man himself) doubt his words. 

"Fine then," Yukiko sniffled and dabbed the edges of her eyes, "Hurry along, we wouldn't want you to miss the train, through Platform 9 3/4!" She gathered the little boy towards the brick wall and Shinichi prepared himself, knuckles turning white as he gripped onto his trolley. Facing the brick wall, the boy broke into a sprint, screwing his eyes shut and preparing to make impact against the wall but instead he felt a fish of wind pass him and the farewell cries of Yukiko grew nonexistent as he pushed his trolley forward and hitting a small object.

"Bloody hell!" A child-like voice with thick British accent exclaimed causing Shinichi to jolt, Kai letting out a loud caw in protest at the sudden impact. Shinichi blinked his eyes open to see a dirty blonde boy cradling his head on the floor, maroon eyes squinting with pain. "Watch where you're going," The blonde whined out with a hiss gingerly rubbing a forming bruise on the back of his head and glaring at the metal trolley.

"I'm sorry, it's my first time going to the platform," Shinichi bowed his head and extended a hand for the boy to take, the blonde huffed and begrudgingly accepted the help standing up to his full height which was a few inches taller than Shinichi. "I can tell," The taller boy bit back and dusted his baggy trench coat. Calming himself, the boy turned to look at Shinichi with a far more civilized look than the one he wore a few seconds ago.

"Hakuba Saguru, but in western order it's Saguru Hakuba, a pleasure to make your accidental acquaintance," Shinichi scratched the back of his head sheepishly at his venomous words.

"Kudo Shinichi, likewise Shinichi Kudo in western order. Are you from Japan?" It was a rather obvious question, one Shinichi knew he didn't have to ask but his stupid self wanted to make an attempt at alleviating the hostility between them.

"I grew up in London for most of my life, I stayed in Japan for 3 years and I received my letter of acceptance to Hogwarts along with my two other friends," Hakuba let out a frustrated sigh as a distant voice boomed out in a high pitched scream.

_**"KAITO!!"** _

Shinichi watched as a blur passed him and as if the world slowed down just for that specific moment Shinichi spied chestnut brown hair glimmering in the sunlight, messy and tousled, falling in artfully disheveled swathes just an inch above hypnotically clear blue (no, purple — _Indigo_ ) eyes and then their eyes met. 

Like some sort of cliched movie, their eyes connected ; confusingly indigo eyes with azure. And a smirk ghosted the slightly tanned face of the other. 

It happened in an instant, Shinichi blinked as a pair of glasses appeared out of nowhere and rested on the bridge of his nose while the boy from earlier had disappeared. 

"Kaito!!" The voice that was previously far now seemed closer than ever and seemingly directed at Shinichi, "You're stupid to think that a pair of glasses could fool me!" The little girl with pigtails (who looked like Ran's long lost twin) stopped in front of Shinichi, menacingly wielding a wooden trunk as a weapon. 

"I'm not Kaito!" Shinichi defended, alarmed as the girl seemed ready to smack him with her trunk, "As if I'll believe you, clench your teeth cause this is gonna hurt!" The girl made a move to swing her trunk towards Shinichi until Hakuba intervened,

"Aoko, Kaito's hiding behind that pillar. This is Kudo-kun, a first year like us!" The girl halted an inch before the trunk collided with Shinichi's head and turned to look at the specified pillar where indeed Shinichi's doppelgänger hid behind, "Kaito!" The girl, Aoko broke into a sprint once more as 'Kaito' let out a weird laugh that went 'Kekeke' and 'Kikiki', it was weird and Shinichi knew he shouldn't get involved.

"Sorry about my friends," Hakuba sighed with a resigned tone, far too old sounding for a child. "Kaito loves to pull pranks on everyone and everything, Aoko takes the brunt of this most of the time." From afar, Shinichi could see Kaito cackling and hopping around the pillars, making confetti pop wherever he goes while Aoko chased after him with her trunk. 

"I'll apologize for them, mostly for Aoko as she's just reactionary." 

The train's whistle blew, signaling their near departure. "That's our call. I'll see you at Hogwarts, Kudo-kun." The blonde waved and went to join his friends, "Bye." Shinichi replied as he waved the blonde a temporary goodbye, watching as Hakuba rejoined his friends and attempted to placate the fighting duo. 

Something told him that Kaito would very much fit in either Gryffindor or Slytherin, from what Shinichi had observed from his short encounter. Thankfully, Shinichi will definitely be sorted into Ravenclaw so Kaito won't be that much of a problem. 

Shinichi went ahead and deposited his luggage to the compartments where Ran was at. 

"Shinichi!" Ran exclaimed, waving from her spot by the train's doors, "The train's leaving soon, let's get on!" Shinichi nodded slowly, having forgotten about his own childhood friend following the encounters with the other students. 

"Yeah," Shinichi followed Ran into the train and sat down in one of the train private rooms, "I can't wait to get sorted," Ran stated cheerfully, legs kicking back and forth in excitement as the train started to move and the scenery blurred into a mix of green and grey and they were off. 

The ride was quiet, save for the sweets lady who sold the usual chocolate frogs and every flavor beans. Ran bought herself a packet of those weird wriggly chocolate frogs while Shinichi preferred to gaze at the passing scenery where the sky was gradually darkening into a perfect shade of not blue, not purple. 

When they arrived at the station, it was dark and shady as the students exited the different doors of the train, "They'll bring our luggage to whichever house we're sorted to," Ran informed and Shinichi rolled his eyes because she made it seem like Shinichi hadn't read about everything that Hogwarts did. 

"Hello, young fellows!" A stout, black mustached man, wearing a beige coat over a simple white shirt (with buttons threatening to pop out) exclaimed, "I'm Juzo Megure, Keeper of Keys and Ground here at Hogwarts. I'll be escorting you to the Great Hall where you will all be sorted to your respective houses!" 

Now Shinichi felt the thrum of anticipation. He couldn't wait to be sorted! Although obviously, he'll land in Ravenclaw no questions asked. Just like his father, Shinichi wanted to be in Ravenclaw ; The house of intellects and brilliant minds and the house Sherlock would be sorted to if he existed and it would be a huge hit to Shinichi's pride if he wasn't sorted into Ravenclaw. 

"Oh cool!" An annoyingly similar voice shouted as Megure led them to boat, rowed and commandeered by invisible phantoms. Hakuba stood by the two from earlier, looking as if he aged a couple of years from the train ride. "Kaito, lower your voice!" The girl smacked Kaito on the back of his head as they boarded the boat, rocked it and almost fell into the lake a couple of times. 

"They're really noisy," Ran whispered out as Aoko and Kaito bickered about some sort of dish from France, "I know right," Shinichi let out a sigh, only slightly thankful that he wasn't on the same boat as the loud bunch. 

The boat ride was smooth and almost lulling as the boat rocked gently to the movement of the paddles, they arrived after a 5 minute ride and were herded to a room just by the Great Hall where they were greeted by a man who, Shinichi noted, looked like Hakuba but older. "Hello, I'm Araide. A teacher for Transfiguration, I'll lead you guys to the sorting ceremony where I'll call your names one by one to be sorted," 

Beyond the double mahogany doors rested the Great Hall, a few more minutes and Shinichi will officially be a Ravenclaw and he could barely hold back the grin, "How exciting~." Ran squealed out as Araide herded them to the Great Hall and towards a single stool in front of the headmaster, Shintaro Chaki who brought out an old hat with creases on the brim.

_"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_  
_But don't judge on what you see,_  
_I'll eat myself if you can find_  
_A smarter hat than me."_

"Wow, the hat started singing!!" Ran gasped as the hall fell quiet, Shinichi ogled on as the hat seemingly grew a mouth and began to sing (quite terribly and even the tone-deaf Shinichi could tell), some students from the Gryffindor table were stifling laughs while the others politely stared on.

_"You can keep your bowlers black,_  
_Your top hats sleek and tall,_  
_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_  
_And I can top them all."_

Shinichi begged to disagree, a deerstalker was definitely better than some old, barely kept together pointy hat. A deerstalker had more style and if it could become sentient like the Sorting Hat Shinichi bet that it'll be smarter.

_"There's nothing hidden in your head_  
_The Sorting Hat can't see,_  
_So try me on and I will tell you_  
_Where you ought to be."_

There's nothing to hide, nope not at all. Shinichi knew from the bottom of his heart that he was a walking almanac doubling as a genius and there was really no room for doubts.

_"You might belong in Gryffindor,_  
_Where dwell the brave at heart,_  
_Their daring, nerve and chivalry_  
_Set Gryffindors apart;"_

Hollers and cheers erupted from the tables clothed with red and gold, a rather loud crowd it was. Shinichi sincerely hoped that he would never had a class with a Gryffindor because he knew about the infamous lions and their 'courageous' acts that often led to disasters.

_"You might belong in Hufflepuff,_  
_Where they are just and loyal,_  
_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_  
_And unafraid of toil;"_

Hufflepuffs were cool in Shinichi's book as the tables abundantly littered with yellow colors nodded quietly, with polite smiles and hushed whispers amongst themselves. Shinichi admired the Honey Badger for their loyalty, for their individuality and how they strived for success despite being infamously known as the 'leftovers' of the other three houses, which Shinichi did not think like so.

_"Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_  
_If you've a steady mind,_  
_Where those of wit and learning,_  
_Will always find their kind;"_

Shinichi gripped onto his pant leg, eyes scanning the table of silent students, embroidered with blue and bronze. He wanted to be there, he had to be there, Shinichi didn't accept any other house as his own except the Raven's.

_"Or perhaps in Slytherin_  
_You'll make your real friends,_  
_Those cunning folk use any means_  
_To achieve their ends."_

Shinichi was well-aware of the lion and the snake's rivalry, frankly speaking he didn't want to get caught in the crossfire plus the weird jocks by the green and silver tables radiated a warning sign that told Shinichi to stay as far away as he could from.

_"So put me on! Don't be afraid!_  
_And don't get in a flap!_  
_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_  
_For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

And the horrible song finally ended, with jeers and teasing wolf whistles from obnoxious students and Araide finally began a roll call. Now, there were over 100 new students this term and that was a lot considering that there was only one hat and by the time they reached a half point, Shinichi had gotten tired of standing.

"Ran Mouri," Araide called out and Ran physically perked up at the mention of her name, "Present!" She exclaimed out of habit, climbing up the stairs and sitting on the stool. Not even a minute later, the Sorting Hat spoke : _"Hufflepuff!"_

What a surprise, Shinichi thought as clapping ensued from the yellow corner. He thought that Ran would go to Gryffindor, it seemed like the perfect fit for the loud girl.

Ran climbed down and went to join the rest of the Hufflepuffs and Araide continued the sorting. 

"Aoko Nakamori," The girl from earlier (slightly wet, Shinichi observed, probably from the earlier boat ride) climbed up and sat down on the stool with a pout on her lips as she held wet ribbons in her hands, "Bad day?" Araide chuckled out as Aoko mouthed two syllables that looked suspiciously like 'Kai' and 'To'. 

The Sorting Hat pondered for a minute, creases forming eyebrows to quirk and scrunch. _"Gryffindor!"_

Loud cheers erupted from the fiery tables causing Shinichi to flinch and cover his ears, fearing that his eardrums might have been damaged. Aoko looked pleased with her house as she skipped right over and mingled with the other students.

"Saguru Hakuba," Hakuba stepped out and sat on the stool, fidgeting and biting his lower lip nervously. The Sorting Hat snickered as soon as it was placed on Hakuba's head, it struck up a conversation that Shinichi couldn't hear as he was too far away but judging from Hakuba's looks it wasn't a pleasant conversation. _"Ravenclaw!"_

Oh. Lovely, a fellow Ravenclaw! Now at least Shinichi knew one Ravenclaw, that saves him the time of having to try and make friends with others once he's sorted into the Blue house.

Hakuba joined the quiet student and engaged in a quiet yet intense conversation with the other Ravens and Araide continued,

"Heiji Hattori," A dark-skinned boy sat at the stool, wearing nothing but a puke green undershirt and cargo pants, the hat seemed satisfied as it immediately exclaimed _"Gryffindor!"_ as soon as it was placed on top of his head. 

The list continued, until the students dwindled down to a mere 10 and Shinichi desperately wanted to be called already. 

"Shinichi Kudo," The boy's heart leapt up to his throat as Araide uttered his name and with a lack of grace, Shinichi stumbled onto the stool with deep breaths. Araide gave him a reassuring smile as he placed the squirming Sorting Hat on top of Shinichi's head.

 _"Interesting,"_ The Sorting Hat hummed out with a quirk of his 'eyebrow', _"You possess large amounts of intellect, your mind is vast ad continuously expanding, very wise, very smart,"_ Shinichi puffed his chest out with pride.

"Of course, I'll be sorted into Ravenclaw, hurry up and sort me," Shinichi whispered as the hat took its sweet time, humming and squirming. _"But young wizard, your intellect is not all of you, there is much more you yourself cannot see but I can,"_ Shinichi's brows furrowed at the hat's words, a sickening feeling settling in his stomach.

 _"You cannot see it but I can, I can read what you cannot even begin to understand. I see the inner workings of your heart, soul and mind. And young wizard, do I know that intellect is not your core,"_

Shinichi felt like someone was choking him, air refused to enter his lungs as the Sorting Hat hummed and decided without further ado, _**"Gryffindor!"**_

And Shinichi's world broke into fragments.

The red and gold tables erupted once more with loud, hearty cheers. Some whistling, some clapping as they joyously welcomed the newcomer but Shinichi didn't like it, not one bit. 

He belonged to the Ravens, he belonged where his fellow students were smart and wise just like himself and yet, _and yet_.

"Kaito Kuroba," Shinichi watched through an unfocused, dull gaze as the lookalike gracefully climbed the stairs and sat on the stool, indigo eyes lit with mischief and unhinged cockiness. Everything felt numb and suddenly, Shinichi felt as if he was hearing things from underwater as Kaito struck up a friendly conversation with the Sorting Hat and the next scene forever haunted Shinichi's dreams.

_**"Ravenclaw!"** _

Why?


	2. First Year, First Blues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a first time for everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One chapter update before I swan dive into studies again. XD

Shinichi's first night at Hogwarts was the complete opposite of what he had daydreamed and expected for years. 

He expected blue and silver clad students to welcome him with little to no fanfare, guiding him to a high tower with the view of the world, high ceilings and drapes that held the stars. 

Instead, he was greeted by flaming red. 

Loud and boisterous, with warm ( _ ~~toowarm~~_ ) and overly suffocating students leading him to a common room that burned the back of Shinichi's eyelids from the abundant amount of saturated colors. Red, gold, red, gold, the occasional brown, red again. 

By the time the boy got to retire to his four poster bed, he saw red whenever he closed his eyes. Downstairs upperclassmen cheered and partied for a little longer while the freshmen have all retired. Shinichi was placed in a dorm with 3 other boys, including the dark-skinned boy from earlier but Shinichi wasn't really in the mood for pleasantries.

The moon's light basked the room, seeping through the glass windows on every side of the dormitory and even in the low light Shinichi could still see the vibrant ~~suffocating~~ red creeping at every corner, the tapestry that hung on both sides of his bed didn't quite help either. 

_"It's just a different house, no difference. I can still continue to study and grow wiser, not being in Ravenclaw doesn't change a thing,"_

He tried reasoning with himself, with his one-tracked, destructive, childish brain. His thoughts held meaning, nothing changed, nothing will change as he'll just study like any other student but a small nagging worry at the back of his head slowly ate at him, _'You don't belong with them, you belong with the Ravens.'_ Shinichi burrowed himself under plush velvet sheets, eyes pointedly ignoring the increasingly maddening red. 

"Sleep first." He verbally told himself, as if to try and manually turn off his thoughts. _'Sleep first, tomorrow won't change just by worrying.'_ He repeated it like a mantra, again and again until he fell into uncomfortable sleep amongst the goose feather pillows and fluffy blankets. 

Morning came obnoxiously. With a heavily accented voice greeting him, beckoning Shinichi from his pleasant dream world. 

"Kudo, good morning!" The unknown voice exclaimed, throwing the sheets off of Shinichi's bed, "We'll miss breakfast if ya keep sleepin' like a log," 

Shinichi took a few moments to sit up, blink and process his surroundings ; Red tapestry, red curtains, lion insignia, red scarves, Gryffindor. So it wasn't a dream.

With a sigh, Shinichi swung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, muscles popping with the sudden movement. "Who are you?" He gave the unknown boy a stare, watching as the other's tanned face contorted in a painful wince, probably due to how biting Shinichi's words sounded like (he wasn't all that polite without his morning coffee okay?) 

"Heiji Hattori, ya're roommate? An' prolly ya're classmate, dinning mate, buddy and rival too," The boy listed down an irrelevant list of titles that Shinichi never gave him, he didn't even recall meeting a Hattori but the name is rather familiar, Shinichi could remember his father mentioning a Hattori every now and then he just couldn't place where and why Yuusaku mentioned them.

"'M a pure-blood wizard, originally from Osaka, Japan but my family migrated to Britain after the Wizarding Wars ta 'elp in re-cultivating the communities," Oh, now he remembered. Yuusaku had mentioned a Hattori helping him in the rehabilitation of Hogsmeade after the second Wizarding War, amongst other praises about donations and contributions made by the Hattori Family.

"I've heard of your family, my father speaks very highly of you," Finally regaining some sense of civility, Shinichi gave Hattori a stiff nod along with a polite rehearsed smile. "Thank you for continuously helping the wizarding communities," Gods, now he sounded like those fake PRs Shinichi always nit-picked on the news. 

"Thank you," Hattori gave him a proud smile, "I've 'eard about ya Kudo's too," A smirk made its way onto the other's face, something that definitely didn't fit Hattori's slightly chubby cheeks, "We've always been compared to the Kudo's, ya know cuz Hattori's come from the west an' Kudo's came from the east of Japan an' 've always been curious on what this Kudo family was like." 

"I assure you, we're all crazy," Shinichi rolled his eyes with a drawl, "My mother's a fashionista who loves drama, my father is an antisocial who has a penchant for Muggle Murder," 

"An' I'm guessing ya're a mix of both," Hattori snickered at Shinichi's scandalized look, "Just kiddin', gosh ya look like I just offended ya're greatest ancestors!" 

"Oh shoot! We'll be late for the banquet," Heiji looked at the grandfather's clock by the corner and jumped into a sprint, tugging an unwilling Shinichi along with him. 

The Great Hall was packed with zombies, students tired from cramming, others tired from late night partying, some rare exceptions (mostly, freshmen) were perky and energetic and amongst those rare exceptions was Ran who had changed clothes, now sporting the standard uniform with a yellow striped tie. "Shinichi, good morning!" The girl called out from her table, beside a pig-tailed girl. Shinichi had enough civility to wave his childhood friend a good morning. 

"Heiji! Good thing you didn't oversleep today!" The girl beside Ran exclaimed, waving both arms exaggeratedly. "Shut up, Kazuha!" Heiji bit back, Shinichi sat down at their designated table, azure eyes scanning the room and ultimately landing on a certain blue clothed table, he spotted two familiar figures bickering side by side and an unnecessary spark of something gripping made itself known as Shinichi observed the blue robed Kaito Kuroba. 

"They'll serve ya anything here, just ask the elves and they'll make anything for ya," Heiji informed as if Shinichi didn't already know, it didn't really take a genius to guess it with all the different cuisines appearing and disappearing on the tables. 

"Lemon pie, please." Shinichi requested to thin air and a second later an entire pie, freshly baked appeared in front of him, "Black coffee too?" Coffee appeared by Shinichi's right hand, although with cream and sugar infused in it. Even elves thought he couldn't handle black coffee, hahaha very funny. 

"Okonomiyaki, takoyaki and a side of gohan!" Heiji spoke as if he was ordering at a local restaurant and from the Hufflepuff table, Kazuha, the pigtailed girl berated the pureblood. "I can order what I want, it's a free for all, Kazuha!" 

"You two act like a married couple," Shinichi observed over his cup of disgustingly sweetened coffee, he watched as Heiji choked on an entire takoyaki ball (which he deserved because you weren't suppose to swallow a golfball sized item without chewing). "Excuse me?!" Heiji exclaimed with a blush that Shinichi could barely see. "Kazuha's my little sister and it's my duty to protect 'er!" Wonderful. The sis-con type.

"Whatever you say," Shinichi rolled his eyes and returned to his heavenly pie, "By the way, they've posted our schedule earlier. 'Ere, I have a copy," Heiji produced a single piece of parchment with words scrawled in ink.

'

**Monday's, Thursday's, Friday's**

_First Period, 9:00AM : Transfiguration_

_Second Period, 10:00AM : Potions, Joint Class with Slytherin_

_Third Period, 11:00AM : Charms, Joint Class with Hufflepuff_

_Lunch Period, 12:00PM_

_Fourth Period, 1:00PM : Flying Lessons_

_Afternoon Off_

**Tuesday's, Wednesday's,**

_First Period , 10:00AM : Herbology_

_Second Period, 11:00AM : Defense Against the Dark Arts_

_Lunch Period, 12:00_

_Third Period, 1:00PM : History of Magic_

_Afternoon Off_

_Fourth Period, 11:00PM : Astronomy_ ' 

"First years have'ta attend Flying Lessons for 'ta entire year," Heiji informed with a shallow sigh, letting Shinichi have the schedule. "Can't argue with the schedule," Shinichi responded after memorizing the schedules, "Dinner at 7, by the way." Heiji followed up after two big bites of his all meat okonomiyaki.

"I suggest you wrap up soon, it's 8:50 already." For the second time that day, he watched Heiji choke on his food. "Hurry up then!!" Heiji ran for their Transfigurations class and Shinichi allowed himself to momentarily forget about his little melodrama. 

Tomoaki Araide waited for them in the circular class, welcoming the almost late students. 

"Good morning class! For this year, we will aim to learn how to turn a mouse into a snuffbox, a match into a needle and the Switching Spell. The final exam for this year is the first task so please pay close attention to how it's done," 

Araide's voice was soft and almost inaudible, with a serene smile plastered on his face. Something told Shinichi that the teacher was most probably a Hufflepuff back in his school days. 

"Now, Transfiguration is a class wherein you will learn how to change objects, both living and non-living into a desired form. This can also be applied to yourself, you may change yourself into a predestined animal, can someone tell me what they are called?" 

Shinichi's hand shot up only a second after Araide finished his question, "Yes, Mr. Kudo?" 

"An Animagus, these are wizards and witches who can freely change from a respective animal form and human form. It is a long, nurtured skill that only the devoted would be able to accomplish as it entails having to keep a leaf in your mouth for an entire month, reciting an incantation nightly and drinking the Animagus potion during a lightning storm and that's just part of the process." Shinichi prided himself in the looks of absolute surprise that came from both the students and Araide himself. 

"M-Marvelous! Wonderful answer, Mr. Kudo. I ought to give Gryffindor 5 points for that!" 

Araide's eyes could be compared to the size of a tennis ball by how wide it's going, Heiji looked quite surprised too. "I think I just found the Hermione Granger of this era," The Osakan boy whispered out with slight disbelief, earning a short punch on the shoulder from Shinichi.

A big and wide scroll the size of a door appeared with a thin mist of sparkles, the names of each house were listed on it and below each house was a tally of points. So far, Ravenclaw was leading by 50 points followed by Slytherin, Gryffindor and finally Hufflepuff. 

_'5 points for Gryffindor, given by Professor Tomoaki Araide, total points 45.'_

Shinichi's gaze grew sharper as he surveyed the list, Ravenclaw was leading, he was proud of the other house but his mind reminded himself that he was in Gryffindor. 

"As Mr. Kudo has stated, Animagus is a type of transfiguration a person can undergo freely. You will tackle more of this on your third year for now we will focus on the Transforming spell, mainly mice to snuffboxes." 

The scroll disappeared after a quick tally change and the period went by smoothly, Araide dismissed them with no homework whatsoever and Shinichi was a tad bit disappointed.

"Dude, the answer from earlier," Heiji started as they walked to their next class, "was amazing! Ya really know yar stuff!" 

"Why thank you, I do enjoy advance reading about various things," Shinichi replied with a shrug of his shoulders, he would never admit that he had tried stuffing his entire mouth with the leaves of a mandrake back when he was 5 because he wanted to be a Raven to impress his dad.

"Next is Potions with the Slytherins, yuck," Heiji scrunched his nose in disgust at the mention of Gryffindor's rivals, "I hope they aren't too dumb, I don't wanna die in the dungeons." Sadly, chances were they _might_ die in the dungeons because these were Gryffindors and Slytherins, in one room, _in one secluded, far-from-other-classrooms, room_.

"Here we are," Heiji stopped in front of the dungeons, with cobblestone walls and metallic doors. The interior was furnished with wooden tables, littered with vials, beakers and flasks all filled with suspiciously colorful liquid. It seems like the Slytherins were all early comers because Shinichi and Heiji's seats were rigged with the magic equivalent of whoopie cushions. 

"Everyone, settle down!" A shaky voice exclaimed as a middle aged man who looked like he barely possessed any willpower emerged from the back room, "Class will be starting, I will be your teacher for Potions, my name is Wataru Takagi. A pleasure to meet you all," Shinichi pegged the teacher for a Hufflepuff but then he saw the thin striped red scarf hastily tucked behind Takagi's desk and concluded that he must have been a Gryffindor, weird as it was, Shinichi was living proof that the Sorting Hat didn't technically know what it was doing.

"For this year, we will be learning the Cure for Boils and the Forgetfulness Potion. Both of these potions require a large amount concentration that may be hard to do during your first tries but I'll guide you through the process." Takagi pointed his wand towards a book and it flipped to a certain page, "Take out your books, everyone." 

Shinichi opened his book, without so much of a care because this was a cure for boils they were talking about, he should _know_ it or else he'd be a failure having read all the books in his family library. "Can anyone recite the ingredients for me?"

Once again, Shinichi raised his hand and Takagi nodded his way ; "Horned Slugs, Porcupine Quills and Snake Fangs, brewing time using our beginner pewter cauldrons is one minute and thirty seconds, stir clockwise every 10 and a quarter seconds for a more effective healing." 

"Thank you!" Takagi chirped out with a delighted smile, while some Slytherins snickered and rolled their eyes, whispering something about 'the male version of Hermione Granger'.

"We will be trying to brew this potion today and I would like for all of you to go to your respective cauldrons and work efficiently, as I will be timing you guys." Takagi held an hourglass in hand as every students' (ugly) pewter cauldrons appeared on the tables. 

"The instructions are on your textbooks, ingredients are by the shelves to the right. Without further ado, please do try now!" 

Shinichi sprinted towards the shelves, taking all the needed ingredients and starting on his potion.

As expected, 10 seconds later a mini explosion rang out on Slytherin's side of the dungeon. 

"Akako! You're too much of a beginner to try and use the self-stirring spell, do remember that over mixing the Cure of Boils results to minor explosions and could possibly singe off your face!" A small girl with long dark hair and piercing red eyes looked on unapologetically as she casually patted down nonexistent creases on her robes, "Yes, of course, Professor Takagi. It won't happen again," Akako spoke with maturity and sultriness that no kid should possess this early on.

"Weird Slytherins," Heiji stiffly commented, despite his apple green eyes being locked on Akako, "Don't even know how ta' mix a beginner's potion," Again, despite his words Heiji wasn't mixing his own cauldron.

Shinichi let out a small puff of triumphant as he transferred the contents of his cauldron into a clear light blue bottle and happily made his way to Takagi who looked mildly surprised, "Finished already?" The professor stammered out,

"Well, the brewing time is just a mere minute and a half. I doubt it would have taken long," Shinichi presented the dark blue liquid to Takagi who examined it carefully before giving his jurisdiction.

"For your first ever potion, it isn't bad! You may had used one half a slug too many and mixed two clocks too much but this is passable, good job!" Takagi gave the boy a bright smile as he placed the bottle on his desk. "You're the first one to finish, congratulations! I suppose I should give you some points for this achievement!"

"8 points to Gryffindor for making the first Cure for Boils Potion and another 10 for nabbing the first ever potion made for this year!"

Again, the scroll appeared and Shinichi smirked as he watched the scroll tally their scores once more. A little bit more and they'll overtake Slytherin, "Damn, what happened to Ravenclaw?" Heiji whispered, with messy hair and soot smudging his face as if his potion exploded in his face (which did), pointing at the tally score of Ravenclaw. 

Earlier, there was a 50 point gap between Ravenclaw and Slytherin, now the point gap was a mere 10 as the points from the Ravenclaw House deducted a number of times. "Maybe they're just that dumb," Shinichi replied with a shrug, masking the sadistic burn of triumph and sick pleasure he felt upon seeing the house's downfall. Serves them right, the Sorting Hat should have placed him in Ravenclaw!

The class ended with 10 too many explosions for Shinichi's liking, 5 being Heiji's fault (partial or full, same thing) and the other half being the Akako girl from Slytherin. Takagi looked half dead as he fixed up a box full of broken vials and flasks for the umpteenth time. 

"Class Dismissed, see you again on Thursday." Takagi gasped out against the fumes of one last explosion (dealt by a cocky Slytherin who tried to rush their potion) and hurriedly shooed the students out of the classroom.

"Next is Charms," Heiji sighed out as he wistfully watched Akako leave, "My gods, what's wrong with you?" Shinichi hissed out as he smacked the other boy's head, "You keep looking at her, what's so special?"

"It's not my fault! She just looks really pretty and 'er voice was really nice," Heiji answered with a defensive frown, crossing his arms and walking out of the dungeons. "I'm sure ya saw it too right? Akako was really beautiful!" Shinichi begged to disagree, all he saw was a smirky Slytherin Heiress. 

"I see more men have fallen for Akako's curse," A voice chuckled out from beside the stairways, a girl, only a year older judging by the books she carried, with short strawberry blonde hair. "What curse?!" Heiji squeaked out, attempting to regain some masculinity by squaring his shoulders. 

"Akako Koizumi, 1st year and Heiress to the Koizumi Purebloods, there's a rumor going around that she is cursed so that every man in the world will fall for her and become her slave," The girl informed with a cunning smirk, snorting and staring directly at Shinichi, "But it appears to be just a hearsay so don't worry about it," The girl waved her hand dismissively and disappeared into the dungeons for her class.

"That was seriously weird," Heiji shuddered and shook his head, "What curse was that girl even talking about?" Shinichi could only give him a shake of his head because maybe the 2nd year's words weren't far from the truth as he had watched Akako manipulate other Slytherin makes during Potions class but what bothered him was the way the girl looked at him, was there something wrong with his face?

"Hattori, do I have something on my face?" Shinichi dragged a hand through his face and hair, searching for any dirt or soot that might have landed on his face, "Nah, nothing. Just a cocky smirk and really annoying eyes," Heiji offered as they arrived at their Charms class. "That's strange, the girl from earlier was staring at me..." The words died on his tongue as he felt a harsh smack to his back, Ran appeared with a big smile.

"Yo! How's my genius little bro doing?" Ran boomed out as they entered the classroom with Shinichi hacking and trying to regain the air that was knocked out of him, "Fine! Before you showed up," Shinichi answered with a rasp, collapsing on a seat.

"Heiji, thank goodness you made at least one friend," The girl who accompanied Ran, Kazuha was it? Teased and poked at Heiji as they sat a row behind Shinichi and Ran, class started as soon as the students settled in.

A black haired man with faded green eyes entered with a wand ready, "Hello, good afternoon everyone. I'm Shuuichi Akai, your Charms teacher and we will be starting with simple charms and spells, can anyone tell me the most important gig to spell work?"

Ran blinked and looked expectantly at Shinichi ; her assumptions were right as Shinichi raised his hand and Akai looked at him expectantly. 

"Pronunciation and intonation, sir." Shinichi smiled as Shuuichi gave him an approving nod, "That's my nerd!" Ran exclaimed with a laugh as she patted Shinichi's back, "I knew you'd know the answer!" She added with a string of giggles that made Shinichi flush a light pink, "Shut up, we're in the middle of class you know!" The boy hissed back with a light frown as Akai continued with his lessons.

"We will start by discussing about the Levitating Charm, just as Shinichi answered, Pronunciation and Intonation are the keys to a successful spell, practice pronouncing the spell and emphasize on the correct syllables. Which we will do for the Levitating Spell, listen carefully. The words to the Levitating Spell is _Wingardium Leviosa_ , accompany these words with a swish and flick of your wand towards your desired target." 

"Wingardi-UM Levio-SA." Ran repeated with a flick and swish and as expected nothing happened, "That's weird," Ran blinked and stared confused at the unmoving quill in front of her. 

"Dumbass," Shinichi huffed out with a shake of his head, "It's Win-GAR-dium Levi-OH-sa and it's a swish then a flick," To further prove his point, Shinichi demonstrated it and the quill levitated like a charm. He quirked an eyebrow towards Ran, along with a triumphant smirk but was short-lived as the quill dropped seconds later. 

"Is your core a Phoenix Feather?" Heiji questioned from behind Shinichi, "I heard Phoenix Feather Cored Wands have a mind of their own, like they're sentient or something," Shinichi hated to say that Heiji was right but he was and he's been trying to deny that fact ever since he got his wand. "True, but I can work with it," Shinichi pouted and turned to recite the spell once more.

"Thank the gods, mine is Dragon Heartstring," Heiji snickered out as Shinichi experienced some difficulties with executing the spell, "Heiji has an unfair combination of wood and core, you know!" Kazuha whined and threw her arms up in defeat after a fifteenth attempt at getting her quill to move. "Pear Wood AND Dragon Heartstring, that's just too overkill." Heiji looked rather proud at the complaints of his friend. 

"At least me and Ran-chan share a core," Kazuha sniffled as she reached over to hug the martial artist who accepted (much to Shinichi's jealousy), "Unicorn friends forever!" Kazuha exclaimed before Akai pointedly shushed them with a deadly stare. 

"I see that Shinichi has been successful with the charm, I'd like to give 5 points to Gryffindor for being the first to complete the spell." 

Shinichi smiled satisfactorily as the magic scroll appeared once more and added to Gryffindor's overall score, "Oh my gosh," Ran gasped out as her gaze landed on Ravenclaw's score, "No way! They were in the hundreds an hour ago!" Shinichi followed her gaze and found Ravenclaw down to a tie with Hufflepuff for last place, having lost 50 points in under the course of an hour. 

"What's happening to them?" Heiji whispered as the scroll disappeared, Kazuha frowned and shook her head, "We don't know, when we scored some points we just saw the tally and it was when Ravenclaw was leading." Shinichi shrugged and continued with his studies, focusing on his wand and attempting to control the 'sentient' being.

"That's all for today, practice your intonations and be ready to attempt the charm once again on Thursday, good job all of you," Akai dismissed them with a small smile, something about him reminded Shinichi of his own father (who he may, or may not miss, definitely do not miss).

"Lunch!!" Ran exclaimed as they bursted into the Great Hall where food laid warm and ready for the students to eat, "I'm starving!" Heiji whined out as he collapsed on Gryffindor's table while Ran and Kazuha bade them goodbye to sit at their table. "Flying Lessons are next, this is gonna be easy," Heiji smirked as he stuffed a mouthful of fried rice into his mouth. 

"True," Shinichi nodded his head in agreement, watching as a blur of lines produced a plate of omelet rice in front of him just as soon as the word 'Omu' left his mouth. "Thanks for the food," He thanked no one in particular before digging in, despite his current predicament with the House Sorting, Shinichi had to admit that the food in Hogwarts tasted heavenly, even better than his mother's cooking. 

"Uhm," An uneasy voice spoke up in front of Shinichi and the chewing boy looked up with ketchup smearing the corner of his lips, "Wow, you really do look like Kaito," It was the girl from yesterday, Aoko Nakamori if he remembered correctly. The girl looked very much like Ran with the exception of her gray eyes and messier hair style pulled vainly into twin pigtails. 

"I wanted to apologize for the run-in at King's Cross Station," Nakamori started with a fidget, "I should have looked closer before trying to attack you and I've wanted to apologize since yesterday but I never really found the opportunity to do so," The girl bowed her head and took in a deep breath, "I'M VERY SORRY!" Shinichi flinched and shrunk back as Nakamori's words almost busted his eardrums. 

"D-Don't worry, I forgive you, you were provoked and you weren't in the right state of mind so it's perfectly understandable," Shinichi shot her what he hoped was a reassuring smile but the look on Heiji's face told him it wasn't. 

"Really?" Nakamori's eyes lit up with sparkles, "Thank you!" She lunged forward and grabbed onto Shinichi's hands, shaking it profusely. "I'm Nakamori Aoko, a Gryffindor just like you! I was so worried you hated me, thank you!" The little girl collapsed on the seat in front of them, "Thank the gods," She sighed out as the tension left her body. 

"I hate to cut the reconciliation short but we're gonna be late for our Flying Lessons," Heiji threw his thumb towards the door where every Gryffindor was currently exiting at and without further warning, Nakamori shot up and grabbed the two other males and made a mad dash for the courtyard.

"Dad, we're here~!" Nakamori sang out as they reached the courtyard where an unruly man who looked very similar to Shinichi's Uncle Kogorou waited at.

"Ah, Aoko. You're on time, good job," Mr. Nakamori held a broomstick in one hand while the other held a digital timer, "Is that a timer?" Shinichi asked incredulously, not that it was unfamiliar to him but because he didn't expect a wizard to be using Muggle items. 

"Yes, Kaito-kun gave it to me as a present for my 3rd year as Flying Instructor here in Hogwarts, he and his family have always used these wacky items and I sort of understand why," The man shrugged and moved to address the crowd.

"Okay! I'm Ginzo Nakamori, your flying instructor! We will be going through the basics of broomstick flying and I expect that by the last session, you're all ready for Quidditch trials!" Something told Shinichi that Ginzo would do very well if he became a police officer. 

"First, we got to get your brooms," Shinichi sweat dropped as the instructor fetch 25 brooms, "Now, just say 'Up!' and the broom should go into your hands." 

Shinichi looked down at the wooden item and stated the words steadily, like a switch the broom immediately found its way into his hand, thankfully his fellow friends were able to do the same.

"Now, put the broom between your legs like so," Ginzo demonstrated with his very own broomstick and Shinichi followed, "Kick the ground to levitate, pull it up to ascend and down to descend, we'll stick to low flying for today," 

This would surely be a piece of cake— 

_Thud!_

Shinichi blinked as he looked up at the sunset sky, wondering how in the world did he end up on the grassy ground? "Oh my gods, he can't ride his broom!" He could hear Heiji cackling from above, seemingly fine on his broomstick.

"Shut up," Shinichi stood up and attempted once more, placing the broom between his legs and clinging on, only to slip off and end up back on the ground. "This is comedy gold, oh gods," Heiji gasped for breath in between insane laughter as Shinichi glared at his broomstick.

"If I can't ride you normally, I'll do it the other way then," Shinichi placed the broomstick low and with the grace of a newborn foal, hopped on it. "Are you an idiot?!" Ginzo exclaimed as Shinichi balanced his feet on the thin wooden stick. 

"It's better for me like this!" Shinichi informed as he got his balance, now standing on his broomstick like a skateboard, which was better since he always used a skateboard back home, "You can't do that in Quidditch matches!" Ginzo argued with a popped vein and Aoko laughed, hushing her father. 

"Better this way," Shinichi repeated, testing out the broomstick and moving forward a couple of feet with perfect balance which he was doing exceedingly well until the embodiment of disaster appeared. 

The doors to the greenery just across the courtyard slammed open and the sound of high pitched crying echoed throughout the entire yard, the sudden ear grating noise sent every student tumbling to the floor, holding their ears in an attempt to muffle the sound.

Naturally, Shinichi did the same too but while he tried to cover his ears, his feet slipped and sent him tumbling down onto the ground.

"Aoko, lookie~!!" Shinichi could faintly register a familiar voice as the crying sound crept closer until the boy got a good view of one Kaito Kuroba holding a baby Mandrake by its leave, wearing blue ear mufflers and full on blue Ravenclaw regalia.

"Kaito Kuroba, come back this instant and return the Mandrake or else Ravenclaw will be deducted 30 points!" An unfamiliar voice which Shinichi decided was the voice of the Herbology teacher shouted out against his ear mufflers.

"But Aoko's gotta see this little guy, look at how cute and chubby he is~," Kaito crooned out as he stroked the forehead of the Mandrake Baby, 

"Kaito, for the love of the gods, return that Mandrake back into its pot or so help me!" Shinichi saw the faint outline of Saguru Hakuba leaning against the doorframe of the greenery, hands fumbling to wear mufflers.

"You guys are no fun," Kuroba pouted as he conjured a pot and buried the mandrake into the soil, "And it was so cute," The boy whispered forlornly like a crazed man as he looked at the pot, "Well! At least I took a picture of it, I'll send it to you later Aoko, mwah~!" The boy blew a kiss towards the Gryffindor girl and promptly skipped back to the greenery where a scroll appeared as deducted 30 points from Ravenclaw, officially placing the Blue House at the very bottom of the ranking.

"Kaito-kun's still a handful, even after all these years eh?" Ginzo managed to shout out against the blaring of his ears, Aoko shook her head in an attempt to clear the static noise that refused to leave.

"I'm so sorry about Kaito, he can be such an idiot sometimes," Aoko apologized with a frown as Shinichi cautiously sat up, hands clasped over his ears with an expression that looked like he just made an epiphany.

"Kudo-kun, are you alright?" Hesitantly asked Aoko as she bent down to Shinichi's crouching form, "I'm fine," Shinichi answered with a gaze stuck on the greenery. "Just peachy," 

For the first time today, he felt glad that he wasn't in the same class ~~house~~ as Kuroba Kaito.

✖️○✖️

Shinichi's second morning was a little more pleasant than his first ; He woke up on his own, without any obnoxious people, the red in his dormitory didn't seem as blinding as before and Aoko and Heiji offered good company throughout breakfast.

"We have Herbology and Defense Against the Dark Arts for this morning," Aoko informed whilst spreading butter on her toast, "History of Magic after lunch then Astronomy at night time," The girl had dark circles around her eyes but she didn't seem all that tired. 

"Didn't get 'nuff sleep last night?" Heiji voiced out Shinichi's thoughts as Aoko nodded grimly, "Kaito didn't really let me sleep last night," She fished out a pale pink flip phone as discreetly as she could, careful not to show the other wizards to avoid any type of culture shock, "Kept sending me pictures of the mandrake from yesterday," Aoko flipped through the various photos, most showcasing Kuroba in different poses with the mandrake. 

"How's it able to take still photos?" Heiji's eyes almost bugged out as Aoko casually flipped through the photos, "Wait, are you a sheltered boy?" The girl asked with a blink, shutting her phone and hiding it in the flaps of her robes. 

"My family is very traditional, we still use owl letters," Heiji informed, "I can't believe there's instant messaging now."

"It's been a thing for quite a while now, Heiji. I suggest you take up Muggle Studies for your elective class," Shinichi wore an amused smirk as he finished his breakfast of scones and earl Grey (the elves banned coffee from him after Shinichi's 15th attempt at getting them to make pure black coffee). 

"Gods, I hope the Mandrake isn't in class today," Aoko hoped as they made their way to the green house where Slytherin students were exiting from and the teacher from yesterday waited at, Shinichi had to admit ; he really thought that the teacher was scary due to yesterday's (rather terrifying) outburst but their teacher was a rather beautiful lady. 

Long black hair and warm eyes, their Herbology Teacher was the complete opposite of the one they saw yesterday. "Welcome to 1st Year Herbology! I am Midori Megure, your teacher and I'd like to apologize for the trouble one of my Ravenclaw students caused yesterday." Last name Megure? Just like the Keeper of Keys and Grounds, lovely. Also Midori seemed kind but something told Shinichi she'd fit perfectly with Gryffindor. 

Shinichi blinked as Midori bowed, "The Mandrakes have been moved out of 1st Years reach so please rest assured for we will only study about Devil's Snares. Do you have an idea of what it is?"

"I know this one," Heiji whispered pridefully causing Shinichi to snort, "Be my guest." 

"Teach, Devil's Snares are plants that usually grow in the dark an' hate light an' warmth right?" Heiji spoke up with a puff of his chest, "Correct, good job Mr. Hattori," Midori gave the trio a smile as she continued,

"Devil's Snares are thorny vines that reside in dark areas such as underground sewers, caves and the like. They naturally hate light and warmth so the spell _Lumos_ , which produces light works like a charm against these," Midori strode over to a locked box and opened it to reveal shaded Devil's Snares. 

"The green house offers a good deal of light so they are tamed right now but I'd like to ask a few volunteers to demonstrate how to repel these plants," 

Shinichi raised his hand without much of a thought and casually padded over to the box with writhing and slightly squirming vines, "I'll dim the room," Midori announced, waving her wand and making the green house a bit more shaded. 

At the slight absence of light, the Devil's Snare creeped out of the box, spilling onto the floor in front of Shinichi and the boy drew his wand, _"Lumos!"_

The tip of his wand lit up brightly as Shinichi waved it in front of him, watching as the vines shrunk back into the box, "Great work, Mr. Kudo!" Midori called out as Shinichi herded the vines back into the box and Shinichi let out a huff of pride, smirking and overly confident.

"Oi, ya're light's fading!" Heiji informed as Shinichi's wand grew weaker and the Devil's Snares sprung forward once more, catching Shinichi off-guard and breaking his concentration. "Whoa!" The boy took a step backwards as the vines lashed out, Shinichi attempted to cast another 'Lumos' but the light that came from his wand was too weak to even repel the plant.

"Children, step back!" Midori exclaimed as the Devil's Snares grew out of control, "This is weird, Devil's Snares are usually not this hostile," The lady exclaimed with a look of distraught as she herded the students to the side except for Shinichi, who fell onto his bum in an attempt to cast a spell. "Kudo-kun!!" Aoko exclaimed as the vines lashed and lunged for the fallen boy,

_"Lumos Solem."_

The entire room was brightened by a blinding light, strong and warm, too harsh for the naked eye to directly stare at so everyone had to cover their eyes. 

Shinichi winced as he used his forearm to shade his eyes from the blinding light, faintly registering thin arms pulling him away from the box and after the light dissipated, the Devil's Snares were locked back inside their box as if it was never opened in the first place. 

"K-Kudo-kun!" Aoko exclaimed as she ran over with Heiji following, "You okay, bud?!" Heiji asked as he inspected Shinichi for any cuts or gashes. "N-No," Shinichi replied, vision clouded with dark spots.

"Mr. Kudo! That was a brilliant spell!" Midori praised with borderline twinkling eyes, "I neglected to mention about _Lumos Solem_ but I see you are well aware of it! To think a first year could cast such a high level spell. I must give points!"

Shinichi stared on as Midori awarded Gryffindor with 30 points, putting Gryffindor on the lead in the total tally. His mind was fuzzy and confused, had he casted that spell? He could remember attempting to cast _'Lumos'_ but he couldn't remember if he casted the higher level version of it, he must have forgotten from the turn of events.

"As Mr. Kudo had demonstrated, light is the natural enemy of Devil's Snares and the correct spells must be used accordingly to drive them off, take notes and practice the spell, I expect for you to be able to produce some light next meeting." 

Shinichi was sat down by Aoko who had forced him to relax for the entire class which Shinichi didn't really mind since he was still shaken up from the earlier attack. 

"My, what beautiful flowers!" Aoko squealed out as she held onto a pot of striped hyacinths, "I didn't see these earlier, they're so pretty," The pigtailed girl giggled and watered the flowers before presenting them to Midori who accepted it with a small smile. "I didn't see those earlier," Heiji added with a shrug as they exited the classroom, "I guess that's just how magic works eh?" Shinichi had a feeling that Heiji was wrong but he wasn't really in the mood of debating at the moment. 

"DADA~!" Aoko sang out in a high pitched tone as they entered the white marble classroom, "That just sounds so weird," Heiji scrunched his nose in false disgust, laughs threatening to spill from his lips. "But Defense Against the Dark Arts is such a long name!" Aoko gasped offendedly, taking a seat and crossing her arms. 

"Good morning," A tall, tanned male with blue eyes greeted as he walked in, "I'm Tohru Amuro, your DADA teacher." 

Aoko shot Heiji a sideway smirk of victory as Amuro introduced himself. 

"Throughout the year, we will learn various things such as the Knockback Jinx, The Curse of Bogies and different ways to treat a werewolf bite," Amuro held out his wand.

"First order of business," Amuro pointed his wand at a ragdoll dummy, "is the Knockback Jinx." 

_"Flipendo."_

The dummy was sent flying a few feet backwards as a light of bright orange hit it square on the chest. "Simple, efficient and a perfect getaway chance." Amuro sheathed his wand and turned to look at the class, "A beginner's jinx that only requires a moderate amount of concentration and a good aim,"

"Seems easy enough," Heiji shrugged as Amuro presented multiple dummies for them, Shinichi shook his head and watched as Heiji casted the spell, only for it to hit a far-off window instead of the target no more than 10 feet in front of him. 

"Aim, lions, aim." Amuro repeated as every spell hit something other than the target, Aoko furrowed her eyebrows as her turn came up, steadily holding up her wand and calmly exclaiming the jinx. 

So far, she was the closest having missed by 5 inches from the dummy's shoulder. "Close!" Aoko whined as she stepped to the side to let Shinichi have a try, to be honest Shinichi wasn't all that confident with his spell work as his wand wasn't really the obedient type but he had to and he might as well try to find a solution to his eccentric wand.

 _"Flipendo."_ The streak of murky orange that left Shinichi's wand managed to hit the dummy but barely made it move, Amuro hummed in thought as he watched Shinichi try once more. 

"You concentrate too much on your target that you forget to release enough force with your words, try loosening up a bit." Amuro offered as Shinichi nodded and took the advice to heart, even though he didn't know what the Professor meant by 'loosen up' but surely Shinichi could find a way. 

DADA finished early as the students broke too many antique items in a crossfire that Amuro had to make everyone leave to fix all the broken things. 

"Early lunch!" Celebrated Heiji with a flap of his arms and a wild woot, "Geez, calm down will you?" Aoko chided as they sat down at their table and merely a few minutes later, Shinichi's eyes were covered by familiar calloused (yet soft) hands. 

"Ran?" Shinichi called out.

"Correct~," Ran took her hands off and sat down beside Shinichi.

"Shouldn't you be at Hufflepuff's table?" 

"I just wanted to talk to you, meanie! How was your day?" Ran stuck her tongue out at Shinichi,

"We blew up half of DADA's classroom," Cue Heiji's laugh at the ridiculous acronym.

"Neat," Ran nodded her head with a wince, "Oh! I'm Ran Mouri!" The girl finally had the manners to introduce herself to both Heiji and Aoko, "Shinichi's friend from Beika!" Ran extended her hand towards Aoko with a warm smile.

"Aoko Nakamori, nice to meet you," Aoko held a lopsided grin that was a tad bit too bright for Shinichi's liking, the two shook hands for a solid 10 seconds as neither of the two girls seemed to want to initiate letting go. 

"Heiji Hattori, from Osaka," Heiji finally intervened after a long handshake, "A pleasure."

"Ran-chan! Let's eat together~!" Kazuha hollered from the Hufflepuff table, waving a spoon in the air. "Gotta go, nice meeting you guys!" Ran shot one last blinding smile at Heiji and Aoko (mostly to Aoko, Shinichi observed) before standing and going over to her table with a quick "Take care, Shinichi!" 

Lunch passed by faster than Shinichi liked and the trio found themselves bored out of their mind as Professor Chiba droned on about the self stirring cauldron and what not.

"Dude," Heiji moaned out as he let his head bang against the wooden table, "Who even pays attention to these types of stuff?" 

"It's important because the wizards and witches worked hard for these achievements!" Aoko answered with a frown, furiously attempting to enchant her quill into taking notes down for her. 

"Ya don't look so interested in the topic either," Heiji let out a sarcastic snort as Aoko fidgeted on her chair, Shinichi took the time to take a quick nap having memorized the story of the self stirring cauldron by heart at this point and History passed by quickly.

"Next up is Astronomy but that's for later tonight, what do you guys wanna do?" Aoko asked as the three sleepily trudged out of the lesson hall and towards their dormitory, "Lounge in the common room? Play some magic chess? Or maybe we could explore the castle?" All suggestions were boring for Shinichi and he really wanted to accompany his father to a crime scene as morbid as it sounded.

"Chess then siesta," Aoko agreed as they entered their dorm (password of the week was 'Flab Smacker' and Shinichi didn't want to know how it came to be) and promptly initiated a three way chess that ended in flames and near betrayals.

"I thought we had an alliance!" Heiji gasped as Shinichi checkmated him, "All's fair in chess and war," Shinichi replied with a smirk as his knight captured Heiji's King. 

"You backstabbing—" Heiji threw a small hissy fit as Aoko went to brew the trio cups of hot chocolate and the afternoon went by normally with the trio killing each other's brain cells with boredom, muggle facts and hot chocolate.

"So you're saying," Heiji started slowly, "Muggles don't use candles and lamps instead they harvest dark materials from the cores of the earth and set them aflame to create this element called electricity?" 

"Pretty much, yeh." Aoko snickered as they climbed the stairway of the long and winding to their Astronomy class.

The top of the tower was a flat platform with the edges lined with telescopes, the stars above were twinkling, painting the night sky with freckled lights.

"Welcome to your Astronomy Class," A robed man with weird curly hair and a enigmatic, shy smile stood by a telescope, "I am Ninzaburo Shiratori, Shiratori is fine. We will be learning the names and movements of every star, moon and planet for the entire year."

Shinichi loved to star-gaze, it was his second favorite pastime losing to reading by a slight disadvantage that he could only do it at nighttime. 

"Please take a paper and a quill, we will be examining a few star for today but I expect a rough draft of at least one constellation group from you all by the end of this week," 

Easy. Shinichi could do that with his eyes closed. And so Astronomy continued till 12PM and Shinichi sort of regretted not taking the siesta Aoko insisted on taking earlier. "We'll go ahead, Kudo-kun," Aoko informed, drawing the boy's attention from his rough sketch of the Gemini Constellation. "Yeah, goodnight. See you tomorrow," Absentmindedly waving as Aoko and Heiji left along with the other Gryffindors and Professor Shiratori,

"That should do it," Shinichi held up his sketch of the constellation, satisfied with the outcome. "Time to get some sleep," The boy yawned as he climbed down the stairway, eyes drooping shut. 

In his haze of drowsiness, Shinichi didn't notice the uneven step on the stairway and slipped. "Ah!" Shinichi screwed his eyes shut as his body slipped forward into a free fall, bracing for impact he heard himself(?) cry in pain as his body collided with something warm?

"Ouch, if you're gonna somersault at least do it with some cushions on the ground," The warm object below Shinichi spoke and the boy tried his damned hardest to ignore him but sooner or later he had to open his eyes despite the obvious feeling of dread welling up in his gut.

Shinichi wretched his eyes open with much vigor, only to greet himself with the sight of a disheveled Kaito Kuroba, who wore star spangled button up pajamas and a ~~cute~~ night cap.

"I'm sorry," Shinichi apologized as he got off of the Ravenclaw (wow, he could literally taste the bitterness of his thoughts) and helping the other up, "I wasn't watching where I stepped," 

"No worries, just be more careful next time," Kuroba wore an impish smirk, as if to hide the growing bump on the back of his head,

"Should we go to the infirmary for that?" Shinichi winced as Kuroba grazed his fingertips over the small bump, "Not needed, I'll live~," Once again Kuroba shot him a reassuring smile. 

"Although I do have to wonder what in the world you're doing this late at night? Isn't Gryffindor's dormitory somewhere on the complete opposite side of Hogwarts?" 

"Astronomy, I was finishing up some homework for it," Shinichi looked down at the crumpled paper in his hands, letting out an exhale through his nostrils at the thought of having to redo his work. 

"Oh," Kuroba drawled out his phrase, shuffling towards the exit of the tower. "Oh that's right!" His sudden outburst sent Shinichi slipping on concrete ground for the second time in the past 5 minutes. 

"I forgot to apologize for the other day, didn't mean to let Aoko almost hurt you," Kuroba gave him a sheepish grin, bowing his head causing his uneven fringes to cover his eyes partially. It pleased Shinichi to know that the troublemaker had a humble side to him.

"It's alright, I don't know what sparked your fight but you must have had reasons." Shinichi awkwardly nodded his head, blinking and rubbing the back of his head. 

"Thanks!" Kuroba chirped with a smile, 

"I'm Kuroba Kaito, nice to meet you!" 

Kuroba held out a blue rose for Shinichi to take and the boy accepted it with the smallest hints of a smile, 

"Kudo Shinichi, the pleasure is mine." The rose was thornless, well-kept and recently trimmed, Shinichi wanted to preserve it for eternity if possible. 

"How's school? Gryffindor treating you nicely?" Shinichi's lips pulled into a tight line at the mention of houses but managed to reply with a curt 'Fine'.

"That's good to hear," Kuroba gave a short smile before giving into a thought, "You know Aoko right? I saw you guys eating lunch together and she's done nothing but talk about you and this Hattori guy," Shinichi nodded and hopefully Kuroba wasn't going to give him the brother-talk.

"Is she treating you well?" Kuroba peeked through his fringes with a small smile, "She tends to be rather overbearing and loud, I hope she isn't too much trouble." 

"No, she's great company," Shinichi shook his head, "She's very bright and kind, I'm afraid I might be the one who's too overbearing." Kuroba let out a small laugh at his words and gave him a nod, "You're a really good guy," 

"Could you," Kuroba started with a small twinkle in his eyes, "Take care of her for me?" Shinichi blinked and nodded automatically, "Sure." He didn't know what possessed him but the smile on the other's face was a redeeming reward. 

"Thank you! I've been worried since she's all alone in Gryffindor with me and Guru in Ravenclaw but now I can rest easy," Now Shinichi could understand why Kuroba spent the entire night texting Aoko and going as far as to find an excuse to get out of Herbology. 

"You better get going! Curfew is scary here!" Kuroba gave Shinichi a casual slap to the back as he led him out of the tower and onto the school grounds, "Nice meeting you, Kudo and thank you for accepting my request!" The Ravenclaw waved both his hands with a big pure smile as Shinichi walked further away from the tower with a heart far lighter than yesterday. 

The Gryffindor boy went to sleep with a smile grazing his lips.

○✖️○

"Welcome home, Shinichi~!! How was your first year in Hogwarts?"

Yukiko greeted him with a bright smile, wearing a faded yellow apron over a puke green dress, in the middle of gutting a turkey. 

"I specifically remember asking you to write to me every week," Her smile was sweet, like a sack of sugar poured into one cup of tea, her voice was honey-laden and falsely warm, "Why did I only receive one letter throughout the entire course of the year?!" 

On cue, the oven shut, flames were lit, windows were screeching in protest to Yukiko's high pitched whines and Shinichi could only wince.

"Dear, I'm sure it must have been a hectic year, it is his first time after all," 

Actually, Shinichi managed to pass each and every exam 3 months earlier than the other Gryffindors but stuck around to make sure Aoko passed (she had some difficulty with History, Shinichi spent all of his remaining time trying to teach her about how wizards came to be) and only wrote to his mother because he was dying from boredom back then. 

"I'll let you off this time but next year I want a letter **every** month and if you don't send any, I'm sending an hour long howler." Shinichi did not want a screaming letter following and nagging him for an entire hour.

"So, were you able to make friends? We heard from Ran-kun that she was sorted into a different house from you," Shinichi could _feel_ the nervousness peeling from Yuusaku like shedding and that was saying a lot because his father usually didn't let any emotion escape him.

"I did make some friends?" He didn't mean for it to sound like a question (it only worsened Yuusaku's nervousness), "Yes, I did. A Heiji Hattori and an Aoko Nakamori," 

The looks of relief on both his parents' faces were priceless as Shinichi shrugged nonchalantly. "They're good company." 

"No one else?" Yukiko dared to further venture on the topic and Shinichi blinked ; did he have another friend besides the two from Gryffindor? 

"Acquaintances, maybe," Shinichi hummed against his cup of (finally) pure black coffee, thinking back on a certain tower with a boy who's smile was brighter than any star Shinichi gazed at that night.

"Well, two is already more than we expected," Yukiko melodramatically sighed as she fetched the roasted turkey, "Congratulations, Shin-chan, we're very proud of you for making it through the year and for making friends! I sincerely hope you don't inherit your father's curse anytime soon." 

Shinichi could only give a laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I shit you not, I had 15 tabs about Hogwarts' curriculum and classes open while I typed this out and I hope it's somewhat accurate! >.<
> 
> Kaito and Shinichi finally meet! Yay~!! *confetti*, I honestly had a hard time trying to find a perfect place where they would formally meet (I was planning on making them meet in class but it seemed too overly normal) and I decided to make Kaito the very last out of all introductions >W<
> 
> I hope you guys liked it! See you next chapter~. <3

**Author's Note:**

> And that's the prologue!! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the start of this wonky, magical adventure that is most certainly ShinKai/KaiShin! (please believe me—//slapped) 
> 
> As of now, I don't have a target amount of chapters in sight but I do aim to update this regularly (er weekly, maybe. Studies make my writing schedule erratic so updating days may vary XD) and again, I would like to establish that this is comedy and the angst is just for plot devices! 
> 
> With those cleared out, here are some trivia regarding Shinichi and Ran's wands! :  
> * Shinichi's wand is a _**Phoenix Feather Core with Hornbeam Wood**_. I chose these two specifically because of the ff. definitions taken from Pottermore articles by J. K. Rowling,  
>  * - _"The Hornbeam selects for its life mate the talented witch or wizard with a single, pure passion, which some might call an 'obsession', which will almost always be realized....... Hornbeam wands likewise absorb their owner's code of honor, whatever that might be, and will refuse to perform acts — whether for good or ill — that do not tally with their master's principles."_
> 
> * Ran's on the other hand is a _**Unicorn Tail Hair Core with Aspen Wood**_ and like Shinichi's, I chose it for her because of the Wood's specifications:  
>  * - _"The proper owner of the aspen wand is often an accomplished duelist, or destined to be so, for the aspen wand is one of those particularly suited to martial magic........ In my experience, aspen wood owners are generally strong-minded and determined, more likely than most to be attracted by quests and new order;"_


End file.
